Moving to Denver area in 2 months. Need some help!!! (Aurora: home, school districts)

[IL to Denver]

I am a 28 years old, married, with a 5 year old and relocating to the Denver area in 2 months. I have never been to Denver but my work is relocating me there. My work location is on Florence St. just off of I-70. I am looking for a town with good schools and not to bad of a commute to work. I would like to stay around $300,000 when puchasing a home. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[2bindenver]

We know nothing about what you like or what you don't. What's important? What does wife do, or want to do?

[Jerry Bckr]

First off, you mention good towns. Not sure what you mean by that because so many people use that term on this forum. Keep in mind that Metro Denver is comprised of a couple of cites, but the bulk of the area is suburbs. Very few real towns. One suburb leads to another which leads to another. Jurisdictions may change but the feel doesn't, except for the style, price range, and age.

Ok, these are the places that would have the shortest commute combined with newer housing. I would suggest using E-470 for your commute because it will have less traffic, however, it is a toll road. I-225 is free but congested at normal commute times. On the south end of E-470 I would sugges zip code 80015 and the southern 2/3 of 80013. Going north on 470 you will find newer communites being built on the open prarie on either side. As you cross I-70 you'll find the Town of Reunion (newly built from scratch) west of Tower at 104th. There will also be scattered developments to the NE and East of the Rocky Mountain Wildlife Refuge. There are also developements along Pena Boulevard between I-70 and E-470 accessable on either side of 56th and 48th interchanges.

For schools, go to www.schoolperformancemaps.com/co. This site is great because it shows where each school is on the map plus it has links to more detailed information.

[jettsettr]

Being a younger family, I think you would find the feel of Reunion, as Jerry Bckr mentioned, to suit your needs. Although it is on the very edge east of Denver, it is removed far enough away from "mainstream" city living and problems. Although the distance measured in miles maybe farther, it won't feel any longer of a commute than living in city because of the traffic during rush hour.
Schools in Reunion are some of the better ones but it does come with a hefty property tax price.
Keep in mind also that Reunion may feel far away now but if you are investing for long term, things will keep moving east.

[denverkid]

Stapleton. In your price range, lots of young families, good (possibly becoming crowded) schools, and your commute to work would be about 5 minutes - if not less.

[IL to Denver]

The most important thing to me are the schools. I am coming from a small town with an excellent school system. I don't mind driving up to 45 minutes to work if there is a town on the outside of Denver. I would prefer either south or east of Denver. My wife is a health and safety rep for a company but is planning on going back to college for nursing. She will be a stay at home mom for a while. People from my work have told me they lived in Parker and loved it. Any opinions on this town?

[Katarina Witt]

Unlike some states, CO does not have a serious dichotomy of "good" and "bad" school districts. There are tons of personal opinions on what makes a school/district good or bad, but Colorado's school finance act equalizes educational expenditures enough that there's not the huge disparity there is in other states. It helps that most of metro Denver's districts are fairly large, so there range of socio-economic levels in most district. Also remember that test scores mainly reflect the socio-economic status of the parents of the kids being tested.

[IL to Denver]

I don't get offended easily nor do I care what race lives in the area. As long as it is a great place for a young family I will be happy. I will hopefully be making a trip to Denver in a few weeks to look around a bit. I will probably start with towns to the south and east up to 45 minutes away from my work location.

[2bindenver]

That's a mistake. There is a reason the average commute time is 20 minutes in the Denver area.

[Count David]

Isn't it a shame when people don't take advantage of improvements that they can make in their lives when they move to a new city?

OP, just because you commute 45 minutes now, it doesn't mean you have to here. I don't know where you'll be looking "east" of work, because all that is beyond Montbello and north Aurora are tiny plains towns. Half of metro Denver is south of your work, and I'm a little dumbfounded as to why you aren't looking north or west.